Educator Effectiveness Changes

Educator Evaluations

Below are frequently asked questions related to the impact HB 15-1323 has on educator evaluations. View a PDF of these FAQs.

What is the overview of the new requirements for educator evaluations that I should be aware of from this new law?

For the 2014-15 school year, districts and local school boards may not use the results of the new statewide assessments (this pertains to the CMAS assessments which include science, social studies, PARCC English language arts, and PARCC math) in an educator’s 2014-15 evaluation rating.

Districts and local boards may use the new statewide assessment (CMAS) data from the 2014-15 school year only as baseline data for measuring student learning in 2015-16 and subsequent school years.

Beginning with the 2015-16 school year, and in subsequent years, local boards may use statewide assessment data as a measure of student learning for that year’s evaluation rating only if the data is available two weeks prior to last class day of the school year. If the local board does not receive the data in time to use it in the evaluation report prepared for the school year in which the assessments are administered, the local board must use alternate measures of student learning. If growth, based on state assessments, is not available prior to the last two weeks of the school-year, the local board must then use that statewide assessment data as a measure in the educator’s evaluation the following school year. For educators who are new to a district, state growth measures from the prior year will not be available.

As a reminder, in 2015-16 and in subsequent years, 50% of an educator’s evaluation must be based on multiple measures of student learning.

What is included in the “state assessment” data that cannot be used in the 2014-15 evaluation ratings?

CDE interprets the intent of the law to include the CMAS state summative assessments that were administered in 2014-15. This would include CMAS assessments of: science, social studies, English language arts (PARCC) and math (PARCC). This would not include ACT and WIDA ACCESS.

What can we do with 2014-15 new state assessment data?

The 2014-15 scores from state assessments (CMAS) (including science, social studies, PARCC English language arts and PARCC math) can only be used as baseline data to set educator or school targets for future years or to calculate student growth for future years. Districts and schools cannot use scores from the 2014-15 administration of CMAS in any educator evaluation ratings for the 2014-15 school year.

Can we use state assessment results from the 2013-14 administration in 2014-15 educator evaluations?

Yes.

If we can’t use 2014-15 new state assessment data for the 2014-15 evaluation ratings, then do we still have to calculate the 50% measure of student learning side of the evaluation equation for 2014-15?

This depends on the district decisions that were made for the 2014-15 school year. In 2014, the legislature gave some flexibility to districts to weigh the student learning portion of the final evaluation rating anywhere from 0-50%. Districts should adhere to their decisions about how much to weigh measures of student learning for the 2014-15 school year. If districts decided to use measures of student learning in an educators rating during the 2014-15 school year for any percentage above 0, then the rating would need to rely on local measures and/or other assessment measures that are allowable, such as ACT, 2013-14 school/district performance ratings, 2013-14 state assessment results, etc. in the finalization of the educator’s evaluation rating.

How can we use state assessment results (CMAS) in the future (2015-16 and beyond) in educator evaluations?

Beginning with the 2015-16, local boards may use statewide assessment results in educator evaluations in two ways: First, to use the results in evaluations in the same year that the assessment was administered, the results must be available at least two weeks prior to the last class day of the school year. Second, districts may use the results from the prior assessment year (except for 2014/15) in educator evaluations. When districts use prior year results, it means that state assessment results are the “first data point in” to an educator’s evaluation at the beginning of the year, rather than the “last data point in” at the end of the year.